Assistant Head Project Manager

Do you want to work on one or the most exciting transformation projects in the public sector?

The Defence Housing Service (DHS) is being created through the Armed Forces Bill to deliver a step-change in housing for the UK’s Armed Forces and their families following the publication of the Defence Housing Strategy on 3 November 2025, which marked the most significant change to Armed Forces housing in over 50 years. DHS will bring a dedicated focus to improving the homes, communities and lived experience of Service personnel, placing families firmly at the heart of everything it does.

This is one of the most ambitious housing transformation programmes in the UK today. Backed by a £9.2 billion investment, DHS will modernise tens of thousands of homes, introduce a more proactive and customer-focused approach to maintenance, and unlock new opportunities to develop housing on Defence land. DHS will have the focus and agility to deliver change at pace, combining public service values with greater flexibility to build the skills, systems and partnerships needed for the future.

This is a rare opportunity to be part of shaping its culture, influencing how it works, and helping deliver lasting improvements for Service families across the UK.

The Defence Housing team is currently part of the Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO), who respond to the evolving needs of our military personnel, and the ways in which they live, work, train and deploy. We are proud to be the expert partner Defence needs for all their infrastructure requirements. From large scale infrastructure projects such as runways for the F35 fighter jets to net carbon-zero accommodation for our Service families, our activities focus relentlessly on our customers, and our outputs are unique in the UK and across the globe! DIO , What we deliver every day.

As an Assistant Head Project Manager in the Future Contracts Team, you will play a key role in shaping the future of Defence accommodation by leading the development, procurement and implementation of accommodation repair and maintenance contracts that support Service personnel and their families.

Providing strategic leadership across a complex portfolio of projects, you will deliver innovative, sustainable and value-for-money solutions that align with Defence priorities. Working closely with commercial, technical, mobilisation, transition and assurance teams, you will oversee governance, business cases, risk management and delivery to ensure the successful implementation of new operating models and lasting improvements across the Defence housing estate.

You will establish a Programme Board and provide representation at other boards, committees and assurance reviews, providing clear and credible advice to senior stakeholders and ensuring programme objectives, risks and delivery progress are effectively communicated.

This is a unique opportunity to lead significant change, influence senior decision-making and make a meaningful impact on the lives of Defence customers.

What you’ll be doing;

• Lead and inspire a high-performing Project Delivery Team, fostering a collaborative, inclusive and customer-focused culture.
• Deliver complex projects that support the future of Defence accommodation services for Service personnel and their families.
• Lead projects through the full lifecycle, from planning and business case development through to procurement, mobilisation and delivery.
• Ensure projects are delivered to agreed time, cost and quality requirements, in line with Defence and Project Delivery Profession standards.
• Provide strategic leadership and direction, ensuring project objectives align with Defence and DIO Accommodation priorities.
• Develop robust business cases, delivery plans and governance arrangements to support informed decision-making.
• Monitor project performance and delivery confidence through effective planning, controls, reporting and assurance activities.
• Identify and manage risks, issues, dependencies and opportunities, driving proactive mitigation and continuous improvement.
• Oversee project resources and workforce planning, ensuring capability and capacity are aligned to delivery priorities.
• Lead benefits realisation activities, ensuring projects deliver measurable value and strategic outcomes.
• Build and maintain effective relationships with stakeholders across Defence, government and industry.
• Provide high-quality reports, analysis and recommendations to senior leaders, boards and governance bodies.
• Lead project communications, ensuring stakeholders remain informed, engaged and aligned throughout delivery.
• Support external assurance activities, including reviews and audits, ensuring evidence is robust and delivery remains on track.
• Use data and insight to drive decision-making, improve project outcomes and strengthen delivery performance.

Whilst this role is advertised as a full-time position of 37 hours per week, we recognise the benefits of flexible working and are open to discussing part-time hours, job share arrangements, or other flexible working patterns with suitable candidates. Regular in-person attendance is required (this is expected to be approximately 60% of your working week) to promote the benefits of face-to-face collaboration alongside flexibility of hours to support work-life balance and business need. Initially, you may be expected to attend more frequently to familiarise yourselves with the site, the team, and your role.

Pre agreed travel to London will be required as part of the role.

Programme Management Practitioner qualifications (MSP, APM or equivalent)

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours and Experience.

Your application will go through the following stages of assessment:

At sift stage, applicants will be required to provide:

• A CV in the Job History section, ensuring it clearly demonstrates how you meet the essential criteria outlined in the person specification. We encourage you to use specific evidence from your experience to illustrate your suitability for the role.
• A personal statement (no more than 500 words) providing examples of how you meet the two most critical criteria for the role. Further guidance is given within the Personal Statement section of the application.

Applications will be assessed against the essential criteria, with each criterion scored on a scale of 1 to 7. An overall score will then be calculated using the average of all criterion scores. To progress beyond the sift stage, applicants must achieve a minimum score of 4 on every essential criterion. This means that even if your overall average score is 4 or higher, you will not progress if you score below 4 on any individual essential criterion.

Please note that, in the event of a high volume of applications, the selection panel reserves the right to increase the overall pass mark.

The interview will be on Teams. Interview dates are to be confirmed.

At interview, you will be assessed against the following behaviours:

• Behaviour 1: Making Effective Decisions
• Behaviour 2: Working Together
• Behaviour 3: Leadership
• Behaviour 4: Communicating and Influencing
• Behaviour 5: Changing and Improving

In the event of a tie at interview, candidates will be ranked according to their scores in the assessed behaviours, in the order listed above.

We will try and offer as much flexibility as we can, but it may not be possible to offer alternative dates for interviews.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.